The second meal is called "complementary food" and is eaten around 4 pm. "Mencius" said that "food governs food" and food supplements it. The main reason for eating like this is low productivity and limited food, so we can only eat. Studying the ancient diet system, many scholars think that before Qin and Han Dynasties, ordinary people used to have two meals a day, which is not necessarily true. For example, "Zhuangzi Neipian" said: "A person who is suitable for the wild will return home after three meals, and his stomach is as expected." It is also recorded in Japanese books during the Warring States period that there is a kind of rice called "twilight food" at night and at night. At that time, it seemed that there were already three meals a day.
However, some scholars say that it may be reasonable for the rich people to eat three meals a day at that time, but the common people still eat two meals. However, there is another sentence in "Qi Ce IV of the Warring States Policy", "A scholar can't eat three parts, and a goose can't eat three parts", which means that a scholar can't eat enough for three meals a day, and you can't eat ducks and geese here. It seems that three meals a day was also very popular among the people at that time. No matter how ordinary people ate at that time, according to the old saying, Wang had to eat three meals a day, first "morning food" and then "swallowing food", that is, lunch and dinner. Therefore, in ancient times, the privileged class undoubtedly had three meals a day.
Ordinary people may not be able to afford it, just two meals a day. So, first of all, even if the two-meal system exists, it is not for health preservation, and it is really helpless. Secondly, if the ancients thought that the two-meal system was helpful to health preservation, and the privileged class must be the first to eat it, then why should we eat three meals to harm our health? The privileged class in ancient times ate well, not only three meals, but also four meals. For example, the emperor of the Han Dynasty was legally entitled to four meals. Ban Gu's White Tiger Pass also explains the reason, saying, "Why do kings eat four times a day? There are four things in Ming dynasty, and the merits of eating at four seasons are also. " This is to compare the four meals with the four seasons, which is actually an excuse for the emperor to eat more. Scholars estimate that after Wei and Jin Dynasties, three meals a day became more popular. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, basically everyone ate at least three meals a day, regardless of whether they had money or not. There were words like "Chinese food" and "lunch". For example, Jia Dao's poem "Farewell to Two People in the Town" said: "After Chinese food in the forest, the world will die", so it is called "Chinese food". Bai Juyi's Ode to Leisure said: "When I sleep in the morning, I have lunch with a monk." This is called lunch.